Workers in the Lexington-Fayette Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.04 in May 2014, about 12 percent below the nationwide average of $22.71, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages in 18 of the 22 major occupational groups, including management; healthcare practitioners and technical; and office and administrative support.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including production; healthcare practitioners and technical; and installation, maintenance, and repair. Conversely, nine groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations; office and administrative support; and sales and related. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Lexington-Fayette had 25,010 jobs in production, accounting for 9.6 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.6-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $18.50, compared to the national wage of $17.06.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the production group included team assemblers (5,050), inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (1,710), and production workers helpers (1,580). Among the higher paying jobs were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers; and metal and plastic forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, with mean hourly wages of $30.47 and $24.15, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry cleaning workers ($9.45) and metal and plastic molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders ($13.61). (Detailed occupational data for production are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2014/may/oes_30460.htm.)

Location quotients allow us to explore the occupational make-up of a metropolitan area by comparing the composition of jobs in an area relative to the national average. (See table 1.) For example, a location quotient of 2.0 indicates that an occupation accounts for twice the share of employment in the area than it does nationally. In the Lexington-Fayette Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the production group. For instance, metal and plastic forging machine setters, operators, and tenders were employed at 23.4 times the national rate in Lexington, and team assemblers, at 2.3 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, first-line supervisors of production and operating workers had a location quotient of 1.3 in Lexington, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

These statistics are from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey, a federal-state cooperative program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies, in this case, the Kentucky Department for Workforce Investment.

Technical Note

The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey is a semiannual mail survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands are also surveyed, but their data are not included in the national estimates. OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Forms are mailed to approximately 200,000 sampled establishments in May and November each year. May 2014 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2014, November 2013, May 2013, November 2012, May 2012, and November 2011. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 74.3 percent based on establishments and 70.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57.1 percent of total national employment. (Response rates are slightly lower for these estimates due to the federal shutdown in October 2013.) The sample in the Lexington-Fayette Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,408 establishments with a response rate of 75 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The OES survey provides estimates of employment and hourly and annual wages for wage and salary workers in 22 major occupational groups and 821 detailed occupations for the nation, states, metropolitan statistical areas, metropolitan divisions, and nonmetropolitan areas. In addition, employment and wage estimates for 94 minor groups and 458 broad occupations are available in the national data. OES data by state and metropolitan/nonmetropolitan area are available from www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcst.htm and www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcma.htm, respectively.

The May 2014 OES estimates are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system and the 2012 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Information about the 2010 SOC is available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/soc and information about the 2012 NAICS is available at www.bls.gov/bls/naics.htm.

Area definitions

The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

The Lexington-Fayette, Ky. Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Bourbon, Clark, Fayette, Jessamine, Scott, and Woodford Counties.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/southeast. Answers to frequently asked questions about the OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed technical information about the OES survey is available in our Survey Methods and Reliability Statement on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/oes/2014/may/methods_statement.pdf.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; Federal Relay Service: 800-877-8339.

Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Lexington-Fayette Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2014

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production Occupations	25,010	1.5	$18.50	$38,470
First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers	1,460	1.3	30.47	63,390
Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers	450	1.1	14.76	30,710
Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters	210	1.4	16.72	34,780
Team Assemblers	5,050	2.3	21.77	45,270
Assemblers and Fabricators, All Other	(5)	(5)	14.46	30,070
Bakers	160	0.5	10.03	20,870
Butchers and Meat Cutters	120	0.5	14.94	31,070
Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers	100	0.4	9.21	19,160
Food Processing Workers, All Other	50	0.6	11.75	24,440
Computer-Controlled Machine Tool Operators, Metal and Plastic	120	0.4	13.43	27,930
Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	320	2.3	(5)	(5)
Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	960	23.4	24.15	50,220
Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	60	1.0	16.77	34,880
Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	460	1.3	15.20	31,620
Machinists	620	0.8	19.84	41,270
Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	300	1.2	13.61	28,310
Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	150	0.8	17.37	36,120
Tool and Die Makers	220	1.5	29.17	60,670
Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers	410	0.6	19.84	41,260
Prepress Technicians and Workers	90	1.3	18.05	37,550
Printing Press Operators	320	1.0	18.45	38,380
Print Binding and Finishing Workers	170	1.7	15.21	31,640
Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers	200	0.5	9.45	19,660
Pressers, Textile, Garment, and Related Materials	(5)	(5)	9.88	20,550
Sewing Machine Operators	(5)	(5)	9.31	19,360
Cabinetmakers and Bench Carpenters	120	0.7	19.69	40,950
Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing	40	0.3	14.34	29,820
Power Distributors and Dispatchers	(5)	(5)	39.65	82,470
Power Plant Operators	80	1.1	25.53	53,110
Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators	140	0.6	19.09	39,720
Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders	550	4.4	(5)	(5)
Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	80	1.0	16.47	34,260
Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	240	4.2	18.21	37,870
Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand	40	0.8	15.62	32,500
Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	190	0.8	14.97	31,140
Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	170	1.5	15.06	31,330
Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	(5)	(5)	16.39	34,090
Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers	1,710	1.8	18.86	39,220
Dental Laboratory Technicians	100	1.5	18.74	38,980
Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians	80	1.4	13.13	27,310
Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders	300	0.4	15.65	32,550
Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	600	3.4	(5)	(5)
Painters, Transportation Equipment	70	0.8	22.26	46,310
Painting, Coating, and Decorating Workers	120	4.0	14.07	29,260
Photographic Process Workers and Processing Machine Operators	(5)	(5)	14.80	30,790
Etchers and Engravers	30	2.0	10.37	21,570
Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic	120	1.9	13.25	27,570
Helpers--Production Workers	1,580	2.0	10.67	22,190
Production Workers, All Other	740	1.8	9.22	19,170
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Lexington-Fayette, KY, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_30460.htm. (2) Estimates for detailed occupations do not sum to the totals because the totals include occupations not shown separately. Estimates do not include self-employed workers. (3) The location quotient is the ratio of the area concentration of occupational employment to the national average concentration. A location quotient greater than one indicates the occupation has a higher share of employment than average, and a location quotient less than one indicates the occupation is less prevalent in the area than average. (4) Annual wages have been calculated by multiplying the hourly mean wage by a ‘year-round, full-time’ hours figure of 2,080 hours; for those occupations where there is not an hourly mean wage published, the annual wage has been directly calculated from the reported survey data. (5) Estimate not released.